In the past, it has been proposed to provide amusement balls with interior lights for various purposes. Such prior art devices, however, leave much to be desired in respect to the amusement function, durability and long life.
A ball with selectively operable lights responsive to impact is described in Speeth U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,575 granted May 25, 1971. This ball is constructed with a hollow transparent wall which accommodates a set of three colored incandescent lamps. The hollow portion may be filled with a transparent resin. The lamps are carried on a circuit board with an impact responsive switch for turning one of the lights on in response to impact. One or more batteries are disposed inside the ball and may be provided with recharging terminals at the surface of the ball.
An internally lighted ball is also disclosed in the Hendry U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,411 granted Apr. 16, 1974. The ball of this patent is constructed of two hemispherical parts each of which is hollow except for a cylindrical tube which is attached internally to the wall of the hemisphere. The two tubes are threadedly engaged to join the two parts into a spherical body. A pair of batteries are carried within the cylindrical tubes and connected with an incandescent lamp which is inside the ball.
A ball combined with a lamp and switches is described in the Potrzuski et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,935,669 granted Feb. 3, 1976. The ball is provided with a circuit including a battery, one or more centrifugal switches and a light bulb which is turned on when the ball undergoes certain rotary motion and is turned off when the bulb is at rest. An amusement device in the form of a yoyo with an interior light and cylindrical switch and battery is shown in the Lanius U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,727 granted Sept. 19, 1989.
A spherical rattle for an infant is disclosed in the Swenson U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,146 granted Oct. 20, 1987. In this device, plural LEDs are connected in circuit with reed switches so that the LEDs are selectively turned on and off in response to motion of the spherical rattle. In a cylindrical embodiment of the rattle, a push button switch is provided with an actuator externally of the handle which can be manually actuated to enable or disable the energization of the LEDs. An inflatable ball with plural interior lights is described in the Yang U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,589 granted Oct. 11, 1988. In this device, the battery cell holder with a manually actuable switch is insertable into a hollow compartment of the ball which is closed by a waterproof closure at the exterior surface of the ball.
A general object of this invention is to provide an improved lighted ball which provides a high energy, high velocity bounce capability like that of the well-known "Super Hi-Bounce Ball" bouncing ball of high elasticity material and to overcome certain disadvantages of the prior art lighted balls.